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Foreign news coverage of China is often deadly serious: corruption, pollution and the like. Then there's the funny and bizarre that often goes viral — like the zoo that swapped a dog for a lion. A number of websites are making these offbeat and satirical tales increasingly available in English.

As fast-food workers go on strike in cities across the country, opponents argue robots could replace them if their demands for a higher minimum wage are met. But robots for fast food exist already — kind of.

Attorney General Eric Holder is instructing his prosecutors to concentrate instead on cartels, criminal enterprises and those who sell the drug to children.

California's pioneering law that prohibits treating young gay people with psychotherapy in an attempt to change their sexual orientation has cleared a constitutional challenge in federal appeals court. The law was put on hold after its opponents won an injunction last December.

The British-American actress co-stars opposite Eric Bana in the surveillance-state thriller Closed Circuit. She joins NPR's Robert Siegel to talk about playing a barrister, working with her celebrated Shakespearean father and being inspired by her opera-singer mom.

A UN weapons inspection team is due to leave Syria on Saturday, but it will take time for them to review all of the material they've gathered about an alleged chemical weapons attack. The British government now says it will wait to hear the report before taking any military action to punish Bashar al-Assad's regime. That leaves the U.S. in an awkward position. It has written off the UN route because of Russia's opposition to any action.

Britain's prime minister called a special gathering of Parliament to argue forcefully for military intervention in Syria in response to the apparent chemical strike that he said killed hundreds there. He met with opposition among legislators who don't want to rush to war.

Federal and state officials voted Thursday on a plan to restore the Gulf Coast. The meeting in New Orleans is intended to set a course for recovery from the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

The NFL has agreed to a $765 million settlement with more than 4,500 former players and families over concussions. The money will fund medical exams and treatment and provide compensation to players and families.

The fast food industry has become the focal point in the drive by organized labor and its supporters for so-called living wage laws. Union members and activist groups staged another round of protests Thursday at restaurants and retail stores, calling for a minimum wage of $15 an hour. How are the protestors playing with consumers and what would happen to workers and the industry if organizers achieved their goal?